Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Just another day at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: “A number of Cabinet and Cabinet-level officials in President Donald Trump’s administration rushed to deny Thursday that they were behind the explosive anonymous opinion article published in The New York Times a day earlier.”
* Today’s mass shooting: “A gunman opened fire at a bank in downtown Cincinnati on Thursday morning, fatally wounding three people and injuring two others, law enforcement officials said. The suspect was also killed.”
* More on this tomorrow: “The Trump administration announced a new rule Thursday that would allow immigrant children with their parents to be held in detention indefinitely, upending a ban on indefinite detention that has been in place for 20 years.”
* Abortion ruling: “A federal judge on Wednesday struck down a Texas law that would have required abortion providers and other health care facilities to bury or cremate fetal remains, the latest in a series of legal setbacks for anti-abortion activists and state Republican leaders who pushed for the law.”
* Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is usually very careful about criticizing the White House, but he nevertheless said on a radio show yesterday that he’s dealing with an American president “who doesn’t always follow the rules as they’re laid out.”
* Farm bill: “Nearly two million low-income Americans, including 469,000 households with young children, would be stripped of benefits under the House version of the farm bill being considered this week by congressional negotiators, according to an analysis by a nonpartisan research firm.”
* A provocative new bill: “An unusual public spat between Amazon.com Inc. and Sen. Bernie Sanders over workers’ wages escalated Wednesday as the Vermont independent introduced a bill aimed at taxing big companies whose employees rely on federal benefits to make ends meet.” The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive think tank, raised some notable concerns about the bill.
* Roy Moore is seeking $95 million in punitive and compensatory damages: “Of all the absurd antics on Sacha Baron Cohen’s Showtime series ‘Who is America?’ … the most uncomfortable moment may have involved Roy Moore. Moore certainly wasn’t too happy about the July 29 episode that implied that he is a pedophile. Now, he is suing Cohen, CBS and Showtime for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and fraud.” * Stefan Passantino, “the former top ethics lawyer in the Trump White House, is joining Reince Priebus’ law firm in its government relations, public policy and compliance practice group.” * Sign of the times: “Not one, not two, but three men (at least) who were affiliated with conservative organizations or the Trump administration have recently been found to have social, professional, or organizational links to explicit white supremacists and members of the alt-right. Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past." Recommended
